Educators must self-assess whether parents’ gifts are ethical

[ad_1]

One second
chase
Lithuania
2024.08.31 14:10

As September 1 approaches, teachers and parents discuss the issue of gifts, and the Special Investigations Bureau (SST) said parents need to abide by common ethical rules. The agency pointed out that educators, for their part, have the responsibility to self-assess whether the gifts they receive are in line with the effective code of ethics and conduct of their educational institutions.

“Teachers receive a salary based on the work performed, therefore, giving gifts with a value higher than permitted by the ethical rules of educational institutions (e.g. appropriate amounts of money, trips, units of property, etc.) can already be treated as an opaque act that violates the rules of educational institutions or the norms of the Code of Ethics of Pedagogy and, taking into account the specific circumstances, can sometimes be considered a manifestation of corrupt behavior”, said STT representative Dovilė Andrijauskaitė in response to Elta’s question about gifts to teachers.
As the new school year approaches, some parents complain in public that other parents urge them to buy trips, outings, excursions, beauty experts, various gift certificates, etc. for teachers in their classes or kindergartens from the common funds of all parents. At that time, some teachers themselves openly talked about gifts and asked parents to send gifts.
“First of all, it is worth noting that the culture of gifts in the Lithuanian public sector, including educational institutions, is getting better. Some educational institutions have developed effective codes of ethics and conduct or gift policies, defining how employees should behave after receiving gifts or illegal remuneration. However, the problem of gifts in educational institutions still exists, especially if it is not discussed in the community, clear rules are not established or recognized procedures are not followed”, said STT.
The department said giving flowers or educational supplies to teachers on traditional holidays does not constitute corruption.
“However, in the specific case, the value of the bouquet and other circumstances must be taken into account to determine whether there was an attempt to stand out, to stand out, to draw special attention from the teacher to a student,” STT said.
Vilija Sušinskienė, principal of Alytus Dzūkija School, told Eltai that the Alytus Municipality provided all teachers with a stationery voucher and explained to the teachers that they also had to declare the vouchers.
The corruption prevention implementation plan published by the Alytus Dzūkija Primary School states that in non-formal education classes, using information technology, students are familiarized with the Education Code of the Republic of Lithuania and other legal acts. The aim is to talk about corruption in the classroom, give lectures on anti-corruption topics, hold debates on corruption in schools in the center of each class, with the aim of promoting the manifestation of intolerance of corruption by all means.
“Oh, I haven’t heard about it, there is no information about it, we may not have such rich parents. We have other problems – how to find teachers, etc.,” the school director told Elta when asked whether the educational institution she runs talks about expensive gifts from parents to teachers.
Klaipėda Pranas Mašiots supports the gymnasium’s claim that its activities are based on Christian values and aim to establish moral upbringing as the basis of the entire educational process.
“Parents know the values, they don’t give us gifts, it’s not relevant, we don’t discuss it. If flowers or chocolates are given as a gift on September 1, we don’t consider it a gift. Trips and massages have nothing to do with us. Respect is the best gift for a teacher,” J. Grigienė told Elta.
The school announced that possible crimes of a corrupt nature or other violations of the same nature can be reported through the school’s email, the city government’s anonymous hotline, and the contact information of the Special Investigations Office.
According to STT, anti-corruption education is still an occasional activity, usually conducted once a year, for example: close to the International Anti-Corruption Day, but in recent years, a significant desire of educators to talk about honesty, transparency, and the formation of students’ honesty and citizenship values has also been noticed in the education community.
With this in mind, STT 2022 invites all Lithuanian educators to serve as teachers at the “Transparency Academy”. The aim of the program is to create a space where teachers can voluntarily improve their capacities in the field of anti-corruption awareness training, strengthen their skills and share best practices with each other.
During the two academic years (2022-2024), more than 140 teachers from all over Lithuania voluntarily joined the “Transparency Academy” program for teachers, 16 good practice exchange events were organized, 60 speeches were read. More than 5,600 Lithuanian general education and vocational school teachers participated in seminars and training courses. The program will continue in this academic year as well.
Every year STT organizes other events for students and young people (for example, the competition of courses “Let’s create transparency together!” has become a tradition), offers attractive tools suitable for anti-corruption education (electronic platform “Badge of Transparency” works, created board game “Fighting Corruption”, etc.), courses, conferences with students and teachers.